Relief valve



Filed Sept. 1, 1951 H. A. DROITCOUR El AL 2,688,977

RELIEF VALVE 2 Sheeis-Sheet l O I III INVENTQRS. Howard A.Dro|tcour BY John M- Droitcour ATTORNEYS.

P 14, 1954 H. A. DROITCOUR ETAL 2,688,977

RELIEF VALVE Filed Sept. 1, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Howard A15; 88m John M. Droifcour ATTORNEYS.

Patented Sept. 14, 1954 RELIEF VALVE Howard A. Broitcour, Cranston, andJohn M. Droitcour; Warwick, R. 1..

Application September 1, 195-1, Serial'No; 244,754

12: Claims... 1

This invention relates. to. a relief valve for relieving. pressure in a system should the pressure.

exceed a certain predetermined amount. 1

Relief valves which are usedfor controlling: relatively high pressures frequently chatterwhen the pressure of the system is close tothe predetermined amount at which the valve will operate, and constructions of a relatively complicated nature are provided for controlling the pressure. Frequently, a pilot valve is used in order that a nicer control may be utilized, and the present invention relates more particularly to the type of; valve in which a pilot valve isprovided for Another object of this invention is to provide a. compact unit.

Another object of'this invention is: to construct the, valve so that concentric alignment-of different. partsis not critical and aslight misalignment of; one part: will not affect some otherpart.

Another object of this invention is to providea. construction in which close machining of the partsfor accurate fit is reduced to a minimum.

Another object of this invention is to apply spring pressure without sidewise load or in other WOl'dS. axially or in. the direction in which it is desired that movement shall occur.

Another object ofthisinventionisto provide a valve'structure in which the movable parts may be-removed as a unit from; a housing in which they aredesigned to operate.

With, these and other objectsin view, the in,- vention consists ofcertain-.novell features; of cone struction,v as will be more fully described. and.

Figure 4,- is an elevation of: the yoke of Fig-- In proceeding with this invention, we provide a housing having a main plug with a chamber above it into which liquid may enter gradually: from the inlet to the housing, and we provide a pilot plug which will open to relieve the pressure in the chamber so that the main plug may: be operated by the direct line pressure. We also provide a pilot piston or other movable separa-- tor which is subjected to pressure at. the inlet side of the housing and: utilize a spring acting upon a lever, which lever pressesv upon. the pilot piston and the pilot plug. A single l'evermaybe used as the movement. of the pilot plug and the pilot piston are parallel. This: arrangement also permits of a slight out of; alignment of the main pilot plug or pilot pistonv without one contributing to the misalignment of the other, and: thus. reducing the necessity of accuratemachin-- ing. We also provide an. arrangement sothat the Working parts may be easily removed. for inspection, replacementor repair as is desired.

With reference tothe drawings, 10- (seeFig; 1 designatesa housing or outer body portion of the valve unit in which the working parts are 10-- cated'. This housing has: a central cylindrical bore H with which the inlet port [-2 communi cates and from which the exhaustport [3 leads. A removable unit I5 is generally cylindrical and is positioned within the bore Hand is readily removable therefrom. It hassealedengagement with the bore at its upper end by means of the 0 ring l6 and sealed engagement. at the lower end' with the bore by: Oring II. A: seal about the inlet I2 is had by 0 ring 18 encircling this: port. A screw [9 through the housing I0 at the lower end serves to hold thisremovable unit in position in the bore. This: unit contains all of the moving parts, and if it isnecessary to-replace or repair any of these parts, this unit may be removed as a whole from the'housingwithout dis turbing the connections at the inlet and exhaust ports.

This unit l5 has: a central" bore 20- whi'ch is. closed by a plug 2! and o ring seal 2-2 at its lower end. A block 23 rests upon this closure 2i and is provided with a central bore 2-1 withchannels 25 leading radially outwardly-from this bore in itslower portion to an annular chamber formed by a reduced portion of the'bl'ock 2'3 and this annular chamberconnects with a recess 27' which forms a part of a conduit to the exhaust port l3. The-upper endof the bore 24- in the block 23- providesthemain valve seat 28 inthe path between theinlet portl2 and the exhaust portlti It is beveled as shown.-

The main valve plug 30 is slidably received within the bore 20 of unit I5 and has a reduced Y portion 3I with corners lapped to engage the beveled seat 28, while its upper end forms a separator which in Figure 1 is shown as a piston 32 with recesses 33 along its side and is of such size as to permit some leakage from the inlet port through opening 34 in the unit I5 to the chamber 35 aboveithe main valve plug. This 3 main valve plug piston is recessed from its upper end to receive a spring 36 which bears against the piston and the upper end of the chamber 35 port 31 leads from this chamber 35 and is provided with a bushing 38, the upper end of which 3 has a valve seat 39 to be engaged by the pilot 1 valve plug 40 which is shaped atits end II to form a seal with the seat 39 when located on I this seat. The coil of wire 42 encircles this plug 3 .and serves as a guide for it. When this pilot plug is lifted from its seat 39, fluid may pass through the control port 31 and through the a boss 48 beneath it for engagement with a spring 49. The position of this block may be adjusted to vary the tension on the spring by screw 50 which has threaded engagement as at 5I with the bore 45 so that as this screw is turned downwardly, the block is slid inwardly to increase the tension on the spring. Nut 66 has threaded engagement with the screw to abut the unit I5 to lock the screw in place. This spring 49 engages a boss 52 at its lower end which transmits pressure through the curved projection 53 to a lever 54 pivoted as at 55 in the slot 44 and urged downwardly by this spring 49. In a space 56 beneath the lever there is located a movable pilot separator which in Figure 1 is shown as a piston 51 which has a conical point 58 engaging a recess 59 under the lever, while the lever is also recessed as at 60 to engage the curved upper end'of the pilot valve plug 40. This piston 51 is slidably guided in a smaller bore GI and is sealed by means of the ring 62. This bore 6I has communication through the conduits 63 and 64 with the opening 34 and inlet port I2. The O ring is elastic and the piston 51 has:

so little movement that the O ring does not slide, thus the piston becomes essentially a yieldable separator which is elastically mounted and produces a minimum of friction in the small movement which occurs in its operation.

, From the above it will appear that the inlet port pressure is transmitted directly to the pilot separator or piston through the conduits 64, 63, while it is transmitted along the sides of the piston and through the restricted orifice 65 in the separator 32 to the pilot valve plug 40, both of which engage the lever 54 and are balanced by the spring 49, which spring may be adjusted .so that the main valve 3I will open at any desired pressure. Assuming that the pressure at the inlet port I2 increases beyond that at which so as to urge the plug downwardly. A control 1 pressure above the main valve 3! so that the pressure at the inlet port will then open the main valve 3I against its spring 36 and there will be a flow through the bore 24, channels 25, 26, 21 and 43 to the exhaust port.

As all of the plugs and pistons are individual, close tolerances in machining are permitted and slight out of alignment of the pilot piston 5! and pilot valve 45 will not materially affect the operation of the valve, making multiple production much simpler. Concentric alignments of the seats and plugs are, therefore, minimized. The arrangement also is such that there is a minimum amount of friction of the moving parts such 'as'the valve plugs, which is also highly desirable in close opening and closing operation.

In some cases instead of using a unit I5 as heretofore described, a unit N as shown in Figure 3 may be inserted in the bore ll. It has sealed engagement with this bore by 0 rings I6, I1, and I8, and is locked in place by the screw I9, as previously described. The unit has a central bore 20 at its lower end which is closed by a plug 2| and 0 ring seal 22 withv a block 23 resting upon the closure and provided with a central bore 24 and channels 25 leading radially therefrom to an annular chamber 25 which connects with the recess 27 forming a conduit to the exhaust port I3 in the same manner as described in connection with the unit'I5. The upper end of the bore 24 of the block 23. is beveled and provides a seat 28 for the main valve,'being along the conduit between thev inlet port I2 and the exhaust port l3.

In the modification shown in Figure 3, the main valve plug II is connected to a separator designated generally I2 and here shown in the form of a bellows having an end, wall 13 to which the plug II is connected and an accordion wall 74 which is secured at its upper end I5 to the end wall I5 of the bore 24. This accordion wall I4 is sufficiently resilient so asto flex and permit the plug II which engages the beveled seat 28 to lift ofi of this, seat and thus yieldably mounts the separator between a high pressure on the side of the separator 13 nearest the valve seat and a lower pressure in the chamber It within the bellows. A spring 1! serves to urge the wall I3 and the plug (I carried thereby to close upon the seat 28. A small orifice l8 permits movement of liquid from the area I9 into the chamber I6 in a restricted flow.

A control port 30 leads from-the chamber I6 into a recess 8| joining the bore 45 which extends irom the other end of the unit I5, as was described in connection with the unit I5 in the construction present in Figure 1, and in the bore 45 we have many parts the same as in the unit I5 above described; thus, there is present block 46, a screw 50 in threads 5! with a locking nut 65, the block 48 being sealed by an O ring 4! and engaging the member 48 which has a boss extendingtherefrom to center the spring 49, the lower end of which spring engages the boss 52 of member 82 having a projection 53 extending therefrom.

A yoke 85 (see Fig. 4) is provided with a plug This yoke 85 is located in a low pressure area which has communication through the radial opening 43 with the, exhaust port I 3 and would be forced by the spring 49 to close the controlport- 80. However, within the opening 9| of the yoke 85 we provide a bellows 92 communicating with the high pressure and serving to provide a sepa-- rator between the high pressure within the bellows and the low pressure area 90 outside of the bellows. The bellows thus acts as a separator having a circular accordion wall 93 and upper end wall 94 closing the accordion wall and a lower wall 95 the latter communicating by means of passage 96 through the end wall, passage 91 through the unit Ill and 98 along the side of the unit to the inlet port l2 or chamber 79 connecting therewith.

From the above it will appear that the inlet pressure is transmitted directly to the pilot separator or bellows 92 which will be set by reason of the pressure of spring 49 to lift at a predetermined value. When this value is exceeded, the bellows 92 will lift the yoke 85, opening the control port 80 enough to relieve the pressure on the separator 12, thus permitting the pressure on the high pressure side to lift plug H and exhaust sufficient from the inlet side l2 to the exhaust [3 to relieve the greater pressure which may have existed and then to return by reason of the springs to the closed condition.

We claim:

1. In a relief valve, a housing having an inlet port and an exhaust port, with a conduit for fluid connecting said ports, a valve seat along said conduit, a main plug engaging said seat to control the flow of fluid through the conduit, a chamber, movable means of greater area than said plug connected to said plug, said means separating the inlet port pressure from pressure in said chamber, a restricted fluid passage from the inlet portto the chamber, a control port for venting the chamher, a valve seat located along said control port, a pilot valve plug engaging said control port seat to control the flow of fluid through the port, said plug urged by chamber pressure to open, a movable pilot separator separating inlet port pressure from the exhaust port pressure, means engaging said pilot separator and pilot valve plug, spring means urging said engaging means to cause the pilot plug to seat against chamber pressure, said spring means being of a force to be overcome by a predetermined pressure at the inlet port acting on the separator whereby the pilot plug and in turn the main plug will be urged to open by pressure acting thereon.

2. In a relief valve as in claim 1, in which said pilot separator is yieldably sealed.

3. In a relief valve as in claim 1, in which the movable means connected to the main plug is a piston.

4. In a relief valve as in claim 1, in which the pilot separator is a piston.

5. In a relief valve as in claim 1, in which the pilot separator is a piston sealed with a resilient packing.

6. In a relief valve as in claim 1, in which the movable means connected to the main plug is a bellows.

7. In a relief valve as in claim 1, in which the pilot separator is a bellows.

8. In a relief valve as in claim 1 wherein the restricted passage from the inlet port to the chamber is along the side of the movable means between them.

9. In a relief valve as in claim 1 wherein the restricted passage from the inlet port to the chamber is through the movable means between them.

10. In a relief valve as in claim 1 wherein the upper portion of the plug is a piston forming one wall of the chamber.

11. In a relief valve as in claim 1, in which the pilot separator is a piston and the means engaging said piston and said pilot plug is exposed to exhaust port pressure only.

12. In a relief valve as in claim 1, in which the means engaging the pilot separator and the pilot plug is exposed to the exhaust port pressure only.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 272,926 Wilder Feb. 27, 1883 737,985 White Sept. 1, 1903 2,091,596 Kluppel Aug. 31, 1937 

